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Old 09-11-2002, 07:30 PM
Handlebars Handlebars is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Posts: 455
I got the opportunity to see nature at work, up close...


...and personal. This storm was the remnants of a Mexican hurricane and left me cold and wet for the last 50 miles of my journey.


But 25 days after leaving warm and sunny Yosemite Valley, I found myself at the end of the trail... at the top of 14,400 foot Mount Whitney during a storm that blew a constant 40mph wind that was cold enough to freeze the water in my CamelBak.



But, as you can see, I wasn't the only dummy to venture up there during such lousy weather. But on that day, I was the only one to walk 200 miles for the privelige!

After making the 6000 foot descent to civilization at the road end in Whitney Portal my next adventure began. How to get back to my Jeep in Yosemite, which I haven't seen in over 3 weeks? Hitchhiking! It worked, within 1/2 hour I was laying down in the bed of a truck for the ride to Mammoth Lakes, where a bus was waiting to take me the rest of the way back to Yosemite.

On this journey I discovered that I could in fact walk long distances while carrying everything I need for survival on my back. I discovered that there is a whole world out beyond the end of even the most remote 4x4 trails, all I need to do was walk. I also discovered that there are other wackos that do this very same thing. This trip opened up a whole world of possibilities for me. I guess it is also appropriate that I post this on 9/11 because that event, on top of everything else happening in my life at the time, made me decide to take fate into my own hands and live out my dreams today, because I never know if I will live to tomarrow to wait for them to come.

The rest of the pictures are here.
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